CD-R

An abbreviation for Compact Disc-Recordable -- a Compact Disc on which a user can record audio, data, or both. (The acronym CDR is also in common usage.) A CD recording drive ("CD Burner") uses a higher-power laser (as compared to a standard CD drive) to record information in a special dye layer in the blank media. Once information is recorded to the disc, though, it cannot be removed. (It can be 'deleted' but this only removes the directory entry, not the data storage itself.)

CD-Rs have the benefit that they can be played in almost all CDROM drives and audio CD players (assuming that the CD contains audio). A similar technology, CD-RW, is erasable but cannot be read by many CD players and earlier CDROM drives.

note: this is not a joke or a bluff meant to make you spray little pieces of broken CD-R and foil all over your room. This test actually does give some indication of the quality of the disc, and of the adhesive properties of the aluminum layer.